The Last Hidden Skill
by panickedfish
Summary: The magic of the Master Sword transports Twilight Princess Link to the world of Skyloft, where he meets one of his earliest ancestors.
1. The Ghost

**author's note: **This fic was written by request. It took a while for me to finally get around to it, but I hope my story makes up for it!

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**Part 1 - The Hero of Twilight**

**Chapter 1 – The Ghost **

_No, try again. _

The Ordonian braced himself for another onslaught of sword fighting. His worn-in leather boots had nothing to grip and he found himself once again blown backwards, feeling a moment of weightlessness before landing heavily on white ground. This in-between, with its misty white aura may seem dreamlike, but the damage to his body was oh so physical.

_You must put trust within your blade._

Link picked himself up and shuddered to his feet, leaning on his sword for balance. He wiped the back of his gloved hand on his face and detected a smear of red on the gauntlet. He blinked sweat and tears out of his eyes. The Shade raised his blade again and Link brought up his sword to block, but his fatigued reflexes landed him again on the ground. He struggled to stand and his abdomen screamed. He looked down and saw a deep red gash in his tunic.

The green hero reached into his satchel and pulled out a fairy. She hummed around him and had him healed within moments. He stood again though the new skin that had closed his wound still felt tight. His jaw clenched with the determination of showing no weakness.

"Why are we still here?" he asked aloud, his voice seemingly swallowed by the nothingness that surrounded the heroic pair. "Ganondorf has been defeated; Princess Zelda is once again on the throne."

_There is an eighth hidden skill. I cannot teach it to you. It is something that must be self-discovered. Doing so will bring you closer to your past self, and that is needed in this world where Twilight still lingers. Though evil may sleep, it does not die. The same is true of many things._

The Ordinaian heard the Shade's voice as much in his mind as in his soul. The skeleton before him had been his mentor throughout the toughest ordeals of his journey, but now it seemed that the fight was not yet over.

Though he was strong, throughout Hyrule he had always been guided enough to know what he was fighting. Now it seemed that his enemy was a reflection of himself. How could he be expected to guard against that?

_Again. _

The Ordonian did not wait to be attacked first. He jumped forward towards the Shade. He had followed the elder's instructions perfectly and was mid-attack when his jump strike was immediately stopped by the Shade's shield. The green-clad hero flinched and felt a tiny shift in air currants before he felt an immediate searing heat in his back that simultaneously spread throughout his upper body in a vice grip of pain. The hero stumbled and fell forward, blind from the pain before he lost consciousness entirely.

_If you cannot learn, then the world needs a new hero. I am sorry it had to end like this….._

Link opened his eyes and saw the Shade standing over him. His blade was raised over his head and the red eye recessed deep in his decayed skill glowed with the same bloodred colour that was pooling around the Ordonian hero. Link recognized the stance of the first hidden skill - the ending blow – and thought about the countless enemies he had dispatched with the attack. He was sickened by the Shade in front of him, and the fact that he was to die such a meaningless death. He realized with a jolt that he had used his last fairy. Now there was nothing to stop the sword's attack.

The boy realized that this was truly the end.


	2. The Spirit

_Let me guide you._

"I am going to die."

_You haven't yet fulfilled your destiny. I can save you. There is still time._

"No."

_There is still hope. Princess Zelda needs you._

Link sat up, opening his eyes. He knew that voice. The darkness was so complete that his surroundings looked like the same featureless abyss whether his eyes were open or closed. The hero closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing so that he was not consumed by the darkness surrounding him. He imagined it entering his body and choking his lungs….

_Stop that. Focus on me. _

This proved difficult to do, since Link did not hear the voice so much as feel it. It wasn't a voice at all, really, it was more like an entity that he perceived with a sense that was not entirely physical. The Hero unsheathed his sword from his back and cradled it in his lap, stroking the steel carefully to avoid being cut by the sharp edge. The physicality of the object in his hand made him feel somewhat better, though he knew he was still defenseless. Somehow, he didn't sense a threat.

"Am I already dead?" the hero wondered.

The being seemed to emanate a strange sense of amusement, and Link felt the itch of a laugh in the back of his throat. There was something innately female in the presence.

"Midna?" he called out, feeling his eyes fill with tears. Maybe she had not dissolved into the Twilight after all! Could he be in the mirror? Link scrambled to his feet, forgetting the sword in his hand. It slid out of his grasp as he stood, and he felt a sharp pinch in his right hand followed by a seeping wetness that dripped off his fingertips.

Link ignored the wound and held his arms in front of him as he staggered through the blackness, his eyes open wide but unseeing. "Midna where are you? Please, let it be you. I'm so happy—"

_No. Your friend Midna is still gone._

"Who are you?" an animal growl of anguish ripped itself from his throat when he realized he had been wrong – this spirit was not Midna. That had been the foolish hero's own wishful thinking. He felt his heart fall and let himself collapse on the ground, his limbs spread out in a complete sense of despair.

_Stop wishing for what cannot be._ He heard the voice in his head, demanding his attention now. _My name is Fi….. I reside in your sword. _

Link felt a warmth on the back of his hand and opened his eyes, gazing at the light on the back of his hand. It glowed in the shape of a triforce. Link sat up and saw his sword resting on its side a few feet away. The light of his hand reflected the blood—his own blood—on the edge of the blade. He looked around but could not see anything else. This area was as featureless as the white mists where the hero's shade remained. But here, white was replaced by black and everything grew convoluted and dark. Link watched as his sword slowly rose up from the ground and emanated a light so bright he had to shield his eyes. He wondered if this was anything like the vision he had seen at Lake Hylia – were the goddesses communicating with him?

_I predate the goddesses. I have returned after a long sleep to bring you back to your ancestor. You must learn…_

Link went to reach for the sword but it spun out of his grasp.

_Stand up, hero. It is time you accepted your final fate. _

Link did as he was told and reached for the weapon.

!


End file.
